#also yeah the timeline starts at 0 Being the year Domino fell and the show takes place 1016 years later

[existentialcrisis-24-7]

Specialists vs Paladins

This post is kinda long and if I wasn’t on mobile I would’ve hidden it under a cut, but anyway, Enjoy :)

Specialists

Specialists in the modern day are sort of like specialised, highly skilled soldiers that nearly every Royal Family or Government will want employed in a variety of positions. They’re supposed to be the best of the best when it comes to combat and it can take years of training to achieve such skill. An important rule about being a specialist is that one doesn’t use magic or magic weapons (phantablades are considered a loophole to the rule).

There are a few schools set up around the Magic Dimension that train Specialists. The first and the most notable is Red Fountain on Magix, though there is a school to train Specialists on nearly every influential/powerful planet. The schools serve as sort of a home base for Specialists on that world, though if one is employed on a world that doesn’t have a school, they will have to travel to go to one. There aren’t many occasions they have to meet but it happens at least once a year. Every school has the same training uniform, though graduate uniforms can vary depending on the school and every Specialist has a Badge of Honour which is literally just the Triquetra (a three-pointed Celtic knot).

The original Specialists were the Saladin family, a family so dedicated to cultivating their combat skills that they ended up with a huge reputation and a lot of secret tricks. They also ended up with a lot of pride in their skills, resulting in a family-wide ban on using magic as it was considered to be devaluing to their skills. For many years the Saladins operated out of a fortress they had built, Red Fountain, and “rented” themselves out (so to speak) for militaries and protection. Eventually, when a man named Warrick Saladin took over as the head of the family, he began a program to train others outside of the family in their secrets.

A lot of the Saladins disapproved of this, especially as time went on and Red Fountain evolved into more of a school than a fortress. That being said, worlds jumped at the opportunity to have their soldiers trained and so it ended up a very successful venture. The popularity meant it had to change some of its curriculum to suit the fact that people were just sending their kids their to learn how to fight, so instead the course now offers basic “high school” education with a huge emphasis on physical training and combat that will give you a leg up in any military and a “college” course to become a full fledged Specialists.

Dagda Saladin is the current head of the Saladins, though that doesn’t mean a whole lot anymore. What does mean a lot though is that he’s the headmaster of Red Fountain and the first Saladin ever to use magic, though that’s a topic for another time. He has been the headmaster for longer than any other Saladin and has made a lot of changes to the school, including introducing phantablades and technological advancements to the building and equipment. There’s a lot of questions and worries at the moment though, as he announced a while ago (about 2 years before season 1) that he would be planning to retire given his old age and would be passing everything on to his grandson, but afterwards his grandson quit Red Fountain and while Saladin didn’t go back on his statement of retiring, he didn’t give a clear answer as to who would take over afterwards.

Paladins

The Paladins of Light Rock were officially created in the year 289 (289 years after Domino fell) by two ex specialists, Avalon and Ambien Malacoy, with the help of the new headmaster of Red Fountain, Dagda Saladin.

Paladins are like freelance specialists, though they are still an organisation of sorts. They have a home base at Light Rock, a basic armoured uniform (though unlike Specialists they can customise it), and a seal that they have to wear visibly at all times. There’s a few other rules since things are a lot more lax than specialists, but the most important thing to remember about Paladins is that they can fight with magic.

The origin of Paladins is on Coria where many of the Saladins moved to after the family began splitting apart. Coria was known for its dedicated warriors, but it was also known for its warrior magic, leading to the integration of Specialist techniques into traditional Corian fighting styles. This was the original style that most Paladins base their fighting around.

One person who trained in those ways was Avalon. He greatly enjoyed magic fighting and wanted to pursue it further so he went to Red Fountain. He hated it. Didn’t like the lack of magic and thought everything was just too proper, so he and a friend he had made there named Ambien left and set up a new group using the techniques Avalon learned on his home world. Saladin liked the two and thought they had a good idea so he helped them set it up. In return, the two named the new group “Paladin” though it was mostly just an inside joke between the three.

The group caught on though thanks to the promise of fighters trained in magic, and the name Paladin ended up sticking.

Most end up employed in some way at Light Rock since they needed magically trained fighters and eventually it became their home base, though the building they use is separate to where the monks stay. Theres 4 schools in the magic dimension that train Paladins, the first and most popular being Malacoy Academy on Coria. Avalon was Headmaster originally but only for a few years before he left and did his own thing, returning a long time later to teach a bit more before moving to Magix to teach at Alfea at the special request of its headmistress, Faragonda.

And there you have it! Specialists and Paladins! Feel free to ask questions because I’m not 100% happy with how the information was given here